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Observer of Interesting Times

@ctoft.bsky.social
152 followers 360 following 1K posts

Call me Charlie. Some years ago - never mind how long precisely - having little or no money in my purse, and nothing particular to interest me online, I thought I would surf about a little and see the less loony part of the world.

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Observer of Interesting Times @ctoft.bsky.social · 21h
Because their last Big Idea for the campaign is to just keep repeating "I am going to give you money" and hope enough morons buy it.
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Observer of Interesting Times @ctoft.bsky.social · 23h
OK, I did not realize Aaron Sorkin directed The Social Reckoning as well as having written it. Not necessarily saying that's ominous -- The Trial of the Chicago 7 was fine -- but I suspect Fincher is going to be missed, not to mention my misgivings about spending any more time with Zuck.
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Jake Casella Brookins @casella.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Whenever I visit, always struck by the disjunction between "Washington" the synecdoche for US empire and "Washington" the beautiful city for the people, just packed with public good and beauty, a promise to be something better. It's good to be upset about the latter's destruction.
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Jonathan Coe @jonathancoe.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Ever since I first saw it, this scene has epitomised Amerlcan elegance for me. I wrote a short story about it for Radio 4 (never broadcast) and it's why I drink Gibsons even though nobody who works in a bar these days knows what they are. A perfect scene - RIP Eva Marie Saint.
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Observer of Interesting Times @ctoft.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
If that's going too far for some Dems -- and knowing Senate Dems I am certain it will be -- they can at least insist on getting someone in there who isn't a 35 year-old Federalist Society robot.
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Observer of Interesting Times @ctoft.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
The eternal double standard of American politics: conservatives can insult, and even welcome the annihilation of, left-leaning parts of the USA with little commentary; while "basket of deplorables" was the biggest scandal in the 2016 campaign.
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Observer of Interesting Times @ctoft.bsky.social · 06/10/2026
Go away and count your money, dipshit.
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Observer of Interesting Times @ctoft.bsky.social · 05/10/2026
The illustrations in "The Biggest Bear." In my defense, I was really young, and the bear was really big.
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Observer of Interesting Times @ctoft.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Damn. A good guy.
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Cheryl Lynn Eaton @cheryllynneaton.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Part of me hopes they also called Jack White and he laughed and hung up.
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Observer of Interesting Times @ctoft.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
"What we believe is so unpopular we can't have it as part of an election campaign" goes hand in hand with the certainty that the federal courts will be bringing these policies to us anyway.
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Eric Haywood @erichaywood.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
MapQuest has the opportunity to do the funniest thing
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Observer of Interesting Times @ctoft.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
The best part of this is Schmitt's sputtering attempt to cut Klobuchar off once he becomes aware that he royally screwed up. Being schooled about sports nicknames by a female Democrat makes the humiliation even worse.
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Observer of Interesting Times @ctoft.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Marchenko is a major talent, but he came up small in the playoff chase last spring (he obviously wasn't alone in that), and vocally didn't want to be in Columbus anymore. Getting people like that out of the Jackets organ-eye-zation has to happen in order to try to build something lasting.
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Observer of Interesting Times @ctoft.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
The ends of both Denver-Rams and Baltimore-Dallas were marred by really weak pass interference calls. I'm not a "let 'em play" guy, but that doesn't mean officials should be seeing things that aren't there.
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Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
We’ve been in a constitutional crisis since Jan. 20, 2025 and a blue wave in November won’t fix it if Trump can just ignore legislation passed by Congress.
cbsnews.com
Trump cancels nearly $1 billion in spending approved by Congress, a move some lawmakers called illegal
President Trump moved to cancel almost $1 billion in spending that was approved by Congress, marking the second time his administration has employed a rarely used tactic that some lawmakers in both pa...
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Observer of Interesting Times @ctoft.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Sitting here at the bar watching Team USA in the Presidents Cup, and lordy do we suck.
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Observer of Interesting Times @ctoft.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Anyone that thinks The White Lotus is better than Deadwood or The Leftovers needs a brain implant.
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Observer of Interesting Times @ctoft.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Thoughts on the 4 new Taylor Swift songs: Patient Zero: Been there done that, why does she still care about this shit? Cleveland!: Silly, not in a bad way Pink Clouding: Pretty good, likely to be overshadowed in this group Babylon: Seems to be the standout track
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Observer of Interesting Times @ctoft.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
You cannot overestimate how much the average "dispassionate" observer of American politics believes (and has at least since the '80s) that this is fundamentally a center-right country, that Democratic victories are aberrations, and that GOP victories represent a return to The Way Things Should Be.
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Ron Filipkowski @ronfilipkowski.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
L - Tom Emmer in 2024 on the House subpoenaing Hunter Biden. R - Tom Emmer today on why the House shouldn’t investigate Don Jr: He’s a private citizen.
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Observer of Interesting Times @ctoft.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Absolutely predatory
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Observer of Interesting Times @ctoft.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
I don't think it takes anything away from the accomplishment to note that the pop chart is practically encased in amber these days. Four of this week's top 10 songs, including "Choosin' Texas," have been out since LAST fall. There's nothing new that's resonating with the pop audience.
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Observer of Interesting Times @ctoft.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Straight white males are 1) definitely a minority and 2) even more of a minority if you're looking only at "people who write 'serious' books." "If a set of people doesn't look like the Trump cabinet, it's discrimination against white guys" is not a serious argument, but it sure is a popular one.
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Observer of Interesting Times @ctoft.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
Pleased to see Democrats competitive in Ohio once again, but I sure didn't miss the nonstop ads -- now with ridiculously bad AI.
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Your Internet Friend Tom Tomorrow @tomtomorrow.bsky.social · 20/09/2026
making this my new email autoreply
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Comfortably Numb @numb.comfortab.ly · 18/09/2026
Post from Amy @lolennui.bsky.social

So cool that whenever someone asks the president, "did you eat the Lindbergh baby" he's like, "no but I'd be allowed to, I have the right to, I might do it later"
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gwen howerton @kissphoria.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Texas Republicans sort of have an intractible problem this November: They're running on fixing all of these big problems and "saving Texas," but they've also been in power for 30 years. prospect.org/2026/09/16/o...
prospect.org
A Path to a Texas Breakthrough - The American Prospect
James Talarico is deploying his Christian faith in his bid for the Senate. But he’s winning because Texans have been pummeled by inflation and corruption.
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Observer of Interesting Times @ctoft.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
I eat chicken the same way and I've never won a damn thing.
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Brendel @brendelbored.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
It’s very important to know you can just tell them their questions are dumb. It’s what Trump does! He’s been very successful at it! The media decided to stop asking actual important things to him because of it!
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Observer of Interesting Times @ctoft.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
Jackie Young is having a huge weekend. 10 more minutes for Team USA.
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Observer of Interesting Times @ctoft.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
That dumb son of a bitch is never going to learn.
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Observer of Interesting Times @ctoft.bsky.social · 12/09/2026
My people.
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mattie lubchansky @mattielubchansky.com · 11/09/2026
bad news everyone. i wrote a program in qbasic that was just 10 KILL ALL HUMANS 20 GOTO 10 which means we are all going to die. does anyone want to give me 7 billion dollars
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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 10/09/2026
only fraudulent economists are allowed now?
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Observer of Interesting Times @ctoft.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Spend 3 hours with the two people on earth who commit to the bit more fiercely than anyone else? Sign me up man.
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Boo!-per Lund @cooperlund.online · 07/09/2026
This is true, and I think it’s worth adding that MAHA is based on the idea that there are healthcare options out there that are guaranteed to work and aren’t unpleasant that “they” don’t want you to know about. The lie is that there are miracles out there that don’t make you face tradeoffs.
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Observer of Interesting Times @ctoft.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
College football now has its own version of the 1972 Olympic Gold Medal game in men's basketball. Just corruption all around.
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Observer of Interesting Times @ctoft.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Michigan picking a song about someone imagining their sexual humiliation as a *fight song* is one helluva choice. Anyway, Western Michigan trails them by one point entering the fourth quarter.
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Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Trump’s best business insight is realizing there’s a huge market of people who want to let everyone around them know that they’re a giant asshole.
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Observer of Interesting Times @ctoft.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Didn't everyone give up on this franchise even prior to the James Gunn era? Some major "You can't fire me, I quit" energy from cinema's least energetic actress.
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Jay Willis @jaywillis.net · 31/08/2026
Laughed out loud at the section of the Supreme Court opinion upholding Trump's ballroom that's like, "And would you doubt the veracity of these SWORN DECLARATIONS that the ballroom is ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY from a BUNCH OF PEOPLE WHO ARE IN TRUMP'S CABINET???" www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...
marks omitted)).
Nor is that all. The government has also presented dec-
larations from the Director of National Intelligence, the Di-
rector of the Central Intelligence Agency, the Director of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Director of the United
States Secret Service, and the Secretary of State, the Sec-
retary of Homeland Security, and the Secretary of the
Army, among others, attesting to national security and
other harms that would likely arise from enjoining a “sin-
gle, coherent” project that cannot be readily cleaved into
distinct below- and above-ground pieces. See, e.g., App. to
Application 229a, 246a–247a, 397a–398a, 426a–429a,
431a–433a, 437a–439a. The Secretary of the Army, for ex-
ample, represents that “[t]he height and mass” of the
planned above-ground ballroom are “crucial” to shield the
planned underground military installation “from kinetic
impacts,” and that, without such height and mass, “engi-
neers would need to dig impractically deep.” Id., at 247a
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Charlie Warzel @cwarzel.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
extremely curious about exact the degree to which the president is fully encased in a slop-generated alternate reality
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Observer of Interesting Times @ctoft.bsky.social · 28/08/2026
I picked up "y'all" as a kid during the 3 years I lived in North Carolina, so I don't care if people think it's performative for me to say it in a Midwestern accent. Plus, it serves a genuine function in the language.
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Observer of Interesting Times @ctoft.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
A unique, irreplaceable figure in American culture.
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Observer of Interesting Times @ctoft.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Kim Mulkey is a terrible person, Part 583
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ryan cooper @ryanlcooper.com · 25/08/2026
well the other thing though is Madison was quite clear that all his various structures would not work if the people lack virtue
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Observer of Interesting Times @ctoft.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
Mitchell and Clark are really putting on a shooting show. And they played last night too.
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Observer of Interesting Times @ctoft.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
Trump's self-professed dealmaking genius was always just bullying and bluster. When that doesn't work, he literally has nothing else to fall back on.
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Brian Floyd @brianmfloyd.bsky.social · 23/08/2026
huh, how interesting. the two on the right just happen to show up everywhere together including a rally across the country. this all seems very genuine
it’s brandi kruse and ahnaleigh wilson
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